THE CHRONICLES OF THE PRAIRIE
by AlphaMist
Summary: Follow the journeys of a mercenary hired to lead a group of soldiers through the nuclear prairies of North Texas as they discover plots and a war that could tear the wasteland itself apart. (ALL criticism welcome!)
1. Chapter 1

THE CHRONICLES OF THE PRAIRIE.

He woke up lying on his back his head was against a rock as he stared up into the sky, he looked to his left and saw a rising cliff. He sat up and looked at the rock which was covered in blood, "What an odd way to sleep." He said aloud to the rocks surrounding him. He touched the blood, it was still fresh, he looked around for any possible owner for the blood but instead saw a helmet lying nearby, the helmet seemed to be a modified army helm, he could've sworn he owned something similar but couldn't remember where he left it, come to think of it, he couldn't remember much, his name for one which was surely something someone should always know. He touched the back of his head and felt the newly formed scab, "Ah so it was my blood." He said to the rocks again and thankfully they didn't answer. After getting up he walked over to the helmet and donned it as a HUD appeared, he took it off and saw the remains of a Pip-Boy attached to the helmet, whoever he was, he was good at electronics, he put it back on and checked the STAT tab, Jason, it read, so that was his name. He looked up the small cliff, that was probably where he fell from, he stabbed a stimpack he found in his pocket to heal up and began his climb.

Once he had reached the top Jason looked upon the remains of a battle scene, the first thing he noticed was a small ammo back next to a dead brahmin, he walked over and almost tripped over his own gun, funny he remembered his laser rifle, customized to fire a few extra shots per fusion cell, a good mid-range dot scope, yep this one was his all right, Receiver, why he named it that he even he didn't know. Picking up Receiver he continued to walk to the bag stepping over dead soldiers, he'd look at them later. Inside of the duffle was some frag grenades, fusion cells, a .44 pistol, and ammo for the .44. He slung the back over his shoulder and walked over to a corpse wearing some T-45 power armor the only thing left intact was the chest plate, which had an emblem on it, it seemed to be a tower with ball on it with three triangles surrounding the ball, but the triangles had their point cut off leaving a curved section pointed towards the circle, ah he remembered now it was the symbol for the Confederacy of New Texas, the strongest governing power in these parts, that is unless the New California Republic comes in, or those newcomers, the Brotherhood of steel turn out to be worth half of what they say they are. Either way, this was good he was remembering certain things, not his past, but how this world, how the Prairie worked. He looted the man finding some more fusion cells, a somewhat used fusion core, and note.

I don't trust this merc, John. I don't care how many people he's helped, he's probably killed twice as much. John, I Respect you and you decision to hire this merc, this Jason Mistrol. But in the end, don't expect me to put my life on the line for him, cause I don't expect him to do the same for me. And \ I hope you feel the same way too, cause he won't be throwing his neck on the line for you only for the caps he was promised

Moe

So he was a mercenary, a gun for hire, not a bad way to make a living, helping people who can't help themselves. He looked at the other end of the battlefield, it was covered in metal husks of robots, something he didn't want to check out. He looked once more at the symbol painted on the armor, Reunion tower with the radioactive symbol around the ball at the top, he smiled and looked at the real Reunion tower in the distance and set off, if he was to find out more about his past, the best place to start, was New Dallas, the center of the Prairie. After looting some more of the bodies, finding some caps, fusion cells, some stimpacks, Radaway and some .44 ammo he started to walk towards New Dallas, but turned when he heard a creaking noise, it was an assultron trying to get back up and failing. He readied his laser rifle and slowly approached the robot

"Help *chh* me" The assultron said in a robotic tone

"And why should I do that?, I was obviously on their side why would i help you?" It was an honest question, he didn't remember why this group of robots, ranging from Mr. Handys to a Sentry bot would clash with a group of men from the Confederacy, and a mercenary.

"Because, I've * chh* heard of you. *chh* you've helped my *chh* kind before. *chh* Please."

"What can I do? It looks like you took a frag to both your knees and your heads barely even on." It was true the assultron looked barley salvageable, let alone repairable.

"Heh heh heh *chh* I guess I really am going to die, thought there might have been a way."

"I'm sorry I can't help you, what are you? I thought robots couldn't feel."

"You don't remember *chh* my speech before*chh* the battle? It was pretty bad *chh*. We are the Imperium of Robotics, the first know Theconarchy!"

The assault on somehow found the strengrth to lift its hand and clenched it into a fist, "And we will *chh* BE *chh* RESPECTeedd…" the assulton's eyes dimmed as his voice trailed off leaving an ominous feel to the air.

"Well that was an unexpected turn." he mumbled as he turned and continued his path to New Dallas. Whistling a tune, funny how he forgot his past but this song, whatever it was, was still in his goddamn head! He raised his head to feel the wind blowing as he walked along the old road, trees on either side began and continued a small forest, this was a site he got used to a lot of other areas around the Prairie were grass with the occasional group of trees and bushes. He heard a snap of a twig in the background he spun around unholstering the .44 pistol to see a ghoul wearing, was that a vault suit but with gloves? He was dirty too, covered in oil splotches he seemed unarmed but, who knew

"Who are you?" he yelled keeping the pistol steady

"My name i is Michael." He seemed nervous about the gun and kept looking around in surprise like he hadn't seen this world before

"So. Can you please p put the gun down?"

Jason shook his head no "Don't trust you, maybe you're a raider in disguise!"

"Raider? W-what sort of backcountry area did the management drag me to?" He seemed a bit more relaxed but still fear crept in his eyes, good that's what Jason wanted for Michel here to fear him, at least for now.

"You're in The Prairie, specifically, territory owned by the Confederacy of Texas." If he seemed official Michael might think he is official

"The Confederacy of Texas? What? Do you mean we left the U.S.?!"

"U.S.?" Was this ghoul mad, incoherent ramblings or loss common sense was often a sign of a ghoul going feral, was this ghoul going feral?

"Yeah, the United States, I don't know how long I was down there but the United States should still be standing unless management was telling the truth…" a mixture of fear understanding worry and sadness filled his eyes and Jason lowered his gun you couldn't fake that amount of emotion.

"Do you need to sit down?"

"No, no I'm fine.. actually yeah I do." Michael sat on the ground and started to weep dryly as his tear ducts no longer worked

"It will be ok, there are others besides us, but…" how do you tell someone their fate is slavery if this ghoul is truly ignorant of this world he is in for a huge surprise

"I know,I don't look like a normal man." He said between sobs

"It's a bit worse than that, you're what we call ghouls, humans that were mutated and somehow survived radiation, the formation of ghouls is rare and to my knowledge there's only one formed after the Great War and the nukes falling, but ghouls here are seen as less than humans and are well.. slaves a practice, according to some travelers, is unique to here." How he remembered all this and not his past seemed like complete bullshit, whether the Children of the Atom were right or there is some other force up there this seemed unnecessarily cruel, and confusing. " S Slaves?" He seemed past the fact that his entire world was dead, though now he was worried about someone being taking his freedom, Jason then smiled as an idea popped into his head "Yeah and you'll be my slave." it was an ingenious idea, really.

"Wait what?!" He backed away and picked up a rock " No way you're taking my freedom! S-stay away from me!"

"No that's the beauty of it, you'll have all the freedom, and none of the fear of being enslaved by a cruel master, I'll act like I'm your master, you'll live with me and pick up groceries to keep up a front but you'll never actually be a slave you'd just be a roommate."

"Truthfully? Aren't their free, Ghouls?" it took Michael a while to remember the word as he paused before saying it

"There are, but the papers are expensive and lengthy, and if you lose them or someone who wants you gets a hold of them you can be taken as a slave, and it's just not really worth it." It was the truth, he remembered that much.

"If you say so but if find out you were lying…" Michael tried to glare but failed utterly to intimidate Jason, who remembered he had faced worse than a fresh vault dweller.

"Come on I'll take you to New Dallas, that's where my home is, and where I might find some key to remembering my past."

"What you got amnesia or something?'

"Amnesia?" He heard a low growl and swung around raising his pistol

"Whats happe *Mph*" Jason slapped his hand across Michel's hand

"Shh" he looked around for the source as a feral ghoul climbed out from under a car it clothes tattered and ripped its hands covered in dried blood

Michael stared in terror as he looked upon a creature that looked like him but with look in its eyes that scared him to death

All it took was a single shot to the head to kill this threat and Jason was surprised there weren't any more crawling out,

"That's that." he holstered the gun and removed his hand from Michel's mouth

"THAT'S THAT!? YOU JUST KILLED SOMEONE!"Michael yelled as he started to panic pointing wildly at the corpse!

"That wasn't a person anymore, it was freal, it lost its humanity along time ago."

"Fearl?! It looks just like me! I bet it was just an escaped slave!"

"Nope, Feral you could tell by the tattered clothes and the eyes, no human, mutated or not, has that type of glare."

"I was scared, by something primal, in me. That's..." He seemed to calm down

"That's the Prairie for you." he chuckled, this ghoul had a lot to learn, he started to walk on, Michael followed

"So, am I going to go, you know,... feral?"

"Maybe,maybe not, how did you become a ghoul, if you were in a vault?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well ghouls are created by rads, vaults are supposed to block rads from entering. So if you were in a vault, how did you become a ghoul?" Jason's tone grew a suspicious edge, not everyone who was who they said he, she or it was.

"Rads? Do you mean radiation? There was a leak in the reactor that was powering the factory or vault,as you call it."

"Wait, your vault was a factory?"

"Yeah, the entire place was built so that, even in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, we could continue to work." The wind picked up as Michael spoke, while this could mean nothing it could mean something was coming.

"So that's what you meant by management wasn't lying."

"Correct, some of us thought the outside was completely fine, management just wanted a trapped workforce, guess they were just trying to keep us busy."

"Not really, vaults, according to some other escapes, were social experiments, it never really bothered me, though." He heard flapping, definitely bad. He raised his rifle and holsters the .44

"Oh, That makes sense, what are you doing, it only the wind."

"Get down,NOW!"

Jason crouched behind a car, while Michel quickly scrambled under a car, at the sight of a massive winged creature emerged over the horizon it's skin as black as the night and it leathery wings flapped as its talons grip at the air

"What the hell is THAT!?" Michael yelled from under the car

Jason quickly turned and put his finger to his lips, hoping this meant 'quiet' before the war as it did now, apparently it did as Michel promptly shut up

The creature landed on top of the car Jason was hiding behind and looked for the source of the sound it leaned down its head passing over revealing a kink in its leathery armor and Jason readily stabbed a combat knife into it neck and moved to open the wound more open, green blood poured from the creature's neck as it fell to the ground

"Its dead." He said to Michael as he moved out from under the creature

"What is that?" Michael said climbing out from under the car, it made Jason jump a little bit as he resembled a feral ghoul, suddenly a scene hit Jason like a sentry bot, a ghoul, this one definitely not feral, and wearing a helmet with only one eye hole and a strange design on its chest, a broken chain with an eye between the shattered link

"Hold on kid, you'll want to see this." He pointed a 10mm pistol at a woman tied to a chair, it was then he realized he was also tied to a chair and apparently 10 years old or at least in that age range, and that woman, it was his mother!

"No, don't p please don't." His mother pleaded struggling in the chair as the metal pressed against her forehead

Jason both his present and past selves watched in silent horror as the shot rang through out the abandoned Red Rocket, and the ghoul turned and left as reality returned to focus. Michael was standing over him yelling

"WAKE UP!" He continued even as Jason gave him a look of contempt

"Shut up, you idjit!"

"Good your awake I still don't know, WHAT THE HELL THAT THING IS!" He pointed at the creature

"It's a Blackwing." Jason sat up and rubbed his forehead "Just one of the creatures that roam the Prairie."

"Alright, now what happened to you?" Michael seemed actually worried a rare trait in the Prairie

"A flashback, a little bit of past revealed I guess."

"Oh…" Micheal seemed unnerved about the answer

"Doesn't matter." he skinned the Blackwing and took some of its meat

"Why did you do that?"

"The Blackwing is a hard thing to kill, we were lucky it leaned over like it did or I wouldn't have been able to slice the hole in its armor on its neck, and its skin and meat are worth some caps."

"Caps?"

"What you use to barter to get ammo, food, armor slaves, new weapons."

"So, money?" he pulled out some crumpled prewar cash

"Not that, those are scraped for cloth." Jason grabbed the cash to inspect it and handed back when Michel protested

"So this is useless now,great."

"I wouldn't say useless, cloth is a useful resource when you know how to use it." Jason did not, in fact, know how to use it but he knew a few guys who did

"Let's get going I think I remember where I live."

"You think?!" Michael grabbed onto Jason's shoulder and tried to turn him around but Jason held strong

"Yes, think I don't remember a lot of things about myself right now, alright!" Jason yelled at Michael as he stepped back surprised by this sudden burst of anger

"Oh yeah I remember, I was going to ask you about that…" Jason closed his eyes and calmed down, so he had a temper, good to know, Jason was focused on this new discovery and calming himself down he hadn't even heard Michael speak

"Let's just get going." Jason said hoping he would have more flashbacks at home, and if his memory was actually right, that was in New Dallas

"Ok, Hey Reunion tower is lit up!" Michael's demeanor changed as he smiled and pointed to the tallest standing structure in New Dallas and no doubt the most well protected, they continued to walk the breeze had died down and a Confederate outpost was in sight so the path should be free of dangers now

"That's where the President lives."

"The President? Of the United States? I thought you said that was all gone?'

"I did, and it is, that's the home of the president of the Confederacy of Texas, I told you about them right? "

"You did, but a confederacy, has a president, is he elected or did he force his way to power?"

"Elected, for life but if enough of the council deem him unfit they can call for a new election."

"Sounds, fishy."

"It's legit, and a good life they have a few settlements here and there, but most farms just trade with New Dallas."

A shot hit the ground in front of them as a man dressed in Combat armor stepped out holding a pipe rifle

"H-hold it right there J Jason!" He yelled pointing his rifle at Jason with a look of pure regret and terror in his eyes peering down the scope


	2. Chapter 2

-2-

Jason stepped back in shock, a small shock, but a shock nevertheless. "Jack, what are you doing!" He yelled at the guard, who he remembered clearer than any other memory, how could he forget Jack?

"J-Justice. The colonel said you gave them up! A-and you said to do as he said and he said to arrest you as you came b-back into the city."

Colonel Williams, he's had it out for Jason since before Jason picked up a gun, and after that even more

"I did say that, didn't I? Oh well can you at least see it that my new slave here," He gestured towards Michael who was still curled in a ball on the ground from the first shot "Gets to my house, granted Wilhelm hasn't burned it down." he said as he recalled his other personal servant, how so much could be remembered but so little make sense

"A-alright I don't think he has proof so you should be good." Jack walked over to Michel and held out a hand as Jason walked into town to get to the cornel's office he would have to go through the marketplace, where doubtless rumors of his 'arrest' would of spread by now, while most of the shopkeepers knew of Williams 'modest dislike' of Jason, some of the more aggressive shopkeepers would take this as an opportunity to ban the 'rogue' mercenary from there 'sinless city', though he doubted the petition would even make it pass the General, it would fail in the council after all he had saved a few of the members lives, surely that meant something. He walked into the market, to a bombardment of voices.

"Jason!" A thick Russian accent came from the gun seller, Mari, who Jason played Caravan with occasionally, they were very good friends, especially since they had saved each others lives many times.

"GET OF HERE YOU GOD FUCKING MERC!" A woman screamed from behind a counter as she lifted a bowl to throw but her husband stoped her.

"Good to see you too, Lisa and thanks, Kyle." The Carsons had mixed feelings about him, meaning Lisa hated his guts but Kyle liked him enough, why he'd probably never know he just knew to go to their diner at night when kyle was running it.

"Jaso My boy!" yelled a small man polishing a suit of power armor "Is very nice maybe you come by and buy it after this mess is sorted out, yes?"

"Maybe next time Gunter, I'm still trying to pay off that last armor upgrade." he yelled to the local armorer, the rest of the merchants had already closed up shop for the day, or ignored him.

When he had reached the Colonel's office it was starting to get dark, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door

"Come in." The rough voice of Colonel of the Texas Confederacy armed forces and Head of city security, Dale Williams sounded through the door, Jason proceeded to walk in

Williams turned around and smirked a smile at Jason his fake teeth showing, he said it was from a deathclaw, but most thought just bad hygiene.

"Well, well well, I always hoped for the day when you'd march into my office, disgraced."

"Well you got none of that right," Jason said taking a seat "I ain't disgraced and I walked in, I don't believe there was any marching." He returned the smirk, as the colonel's turned to a scowl

"YOU DARE DISRESPECT ME! WHEN You're SUPPOSED TO BE IN CUFFS! ONLY BY MY GRACE ARE YOU NOT CUFFED!"

Jason doubted that as the colonel had tried to cuff him many times and many times the cuffs ended up on on the colonel

"So, what am I in for, I'm assuming this isn't a nice chat cause I don't see any tea."

"FOR LURING MY SOLDIERS INTO A TRAP!" Williams slammed his fists into the desk separating them causing the sleeves of his blue uniform to roll up

"I did nothing of the sort!" Jason said back sternly

"Then why are they dead and you unscathed!"

"Cause I was knocked out early in the battle by falling down a small cliff onto a rock!"

Jason took of his helmet and showed him the blood, now dried onto his hair

"A likely story." Williams said mockingly regaining his cool and moving his hands behind his back "And why were you even at the battle? I sure didn't hire you to help" He smiled apparently thinking he led his nemesis into a trap

"Because the sergeant who led the squadron hired me to help." he pulled out the note he found earlier and luckily with it a receipt he didn't even know he had, further proving his story, thank god for dumb luck.

Williams glanced at the papers and growled "Fine, you're free to go, but know i find you within five steps of a robot traitor and I'll have you strung up on treason."

"Ok, whatever colonel" He gave a fake salute and walked out of the building almost bumping into a big man in a green uniform with the Texas Confederate embroidered on the right and a name opposite of the emblem, Tulion. As soon as Jason saw the name he recognized the man as General Anthony Tulion leader of the Confederacy's Armed Forces, Colonel Williams superior, not to mention one of Jason's oldest friends.

"General Tulion," he tipped his combat helmet "How are you?"

"Jason, I am doing well, heard Williams was on your ass again and I was coming to get on his, but I see you already handled that situation, how about I give you another job instead?" He replied in a deep voice that did not fit his lanky body shape

"Nah, not yet anyway I need to rest up a bit took a nasty bump to the head and got a new, servant to adjust."

"AH, well I hope he prospers the way you want him to, God be with you." With that, he tipped his stetson and walked into the office and while Jason would love to hear Williams being chewed out, he really did need to get to his house before Wilhelm tried to kill Michel, damn robot.

As Jason walked through the silent town, he tried to think and remember what he had forgotten, something not done easily. How in the hell did he have that flashback? Could it of been a side effect of the Blackwing's blood or just a happening of circumstance, maybe it was that one thing doctor Julio talked about, what was it called, he described it as like a natural psycho… adrenaline! That was it, maybe that gave him his flashbacks! He continued to walk passing by the Church of God, one of the only fully pre-war structures still being used in its original intent, outside was a man dressed in rags yelling about the glory of Atom, obviously this was one of the children of Atom trying to convert people to the way of Atom, which was strange considering that anyone who went to church this late, was very devout and not likely to convert. It wasn't long till he noticed his house in the distance a quaint little house most of it survived the Great War but the roof and a wall had to be mended before it was livable, not to mention the calming down the damn robot that served the previous family, and now him. He opened the door to find Michel, thankfully, not dead sitting on a chair talking another ghoul, dressed in a white doctor's coat and matching pants, this had to be Doctor Julio, one of the only free ghouls in the area, and he was only free because of his medical knowledge he learned from Pre-war colleges, something most people didn't use because they were either too proud or afraid, Jason, on the other hand, wasn't the doc had saved his life on more than more than one occasion, all under the watchful eyes of Wilhelm who was hiding in the kitchen.

"Good evening doc," Jason said putting his helmet of the hat rack next to the front door and taking a seat on his armchair, a nice lime green leather chair, while most did not see its beauty, Jason loved the old thing

"Good evening Jason, Michel here told me you were having problems with your memory, this may come as a shock but Michel here use to be one of my patients, you know from before."

"Yeah, that is kinda shocking, but back to the memory thing, is it permanent or will I be able to get my past back?"

Doctor Julio smiled and said "It's not permanent it's called retrograde amnesia caused, in your case by blunt force trauma to the head and can be cured only through time,each case is different though they all share one characteristic, the victim has no memory of his or her past and is left with knowledge and names but no events."

"Well, that's definitely what happened to me." Jason stared at his feet his hands on his knees, "so what now?"

"This is where my knowledge of the subject ends because it's different for every single patient, some receive it in dreams others through just remembering."

Jason held his face in his hands, what if one of those flashbacks happened in battle, who would protect him?

"Thank you, Dr. Julio, it's good to see you again, really, I'm glad you survived." Michel got up and ushered the ghoul doctor out of the house.

"It was good to see you too, I hope to see you at my office eventually." The Doctor grabbed his hat and was out of the house before anything else could be said

"I hate doctors." Michel stated as he sat down where the doctor had sat, across from Jason, "Don't you?"

"I find that even the most pompous and annoying people can be stood when your life is on the line." Jason said, "How about you Wilhelm?"

"I prefer a good mechanic to a doctor, then again I'm a robot," Wilhelm said, in a thick Irish accent, a strange accent for a Mr. Handy as most were British, Wilhelm claimed it was a side effect of the immense amount of radiation, but he claimed a lot of things were side effects of rads.

Michel jumped at the sound of Wilhelm's voice "HOLY SHIT!" Michel tried hoped of the couch but Wilhelm's buzzsaw arm reached an inch from his neck, keeping him seated.

"Should i dispose of this _creature_ , sir?" he said the word creature with such distaste, that Jason thought no matter what he said, Michel might not survive, then again this was how Wilhelm usually greeted new people

"No, Wilhelm, he is our new assistant." Jason said calmly "Can you grab the dummy collar from the shelf?"

"Certainly," Wilhelm said sullenly removing his saw from Michael's neck and floating off back to the kitchen

"You have an Irish Mr. Handy, that tried to kill me." Michel said cradling his head in his hands, "Is anything in this new world NOT trying to kill?"

"Yep, anyone who doesn't try to kill you is either, religious or selling something, either way, you should probably just move on," Jason said he reached for a mug on the side table, that wasn't there.

"Wilhelm? Where is my mug?" He yelled

"I believe… right here!" Wilhelm said floating in holding a collar and, thank Atom, his mug, why the mug was important to him Jason had forgotten along with his past, most likely they were connected, the mug was of simple design, no fancy curves, just a traditional mug on it was a Pre-war dog, a pug, wearing glasses and a bowtie, it was amazing the decal had survived as long as it had.

"Thank you, Wilhelm, I'll give you the honors of putting that on our new assistant," He turned to Michel "Just sit still."

"And let you put a collar around me like I'm an animal? NOW FUCKING WAY!" Michel said swiping his hand, as he said this Wilhelm put the collar on quickly and quite to Michel's astonishment uneventfully.

"Wha- Wha- ?' Michel scratched at the collar

"It's not going to come off, it may be a dummy but it still doesn't come off that easily. It will take a key that only two people have, the President and the General."

"Dummy? Meaning?"

"Meaning it doesn't have the ability to shock you, or inject tranquilizer into your system, you dumb creature." Wilhelm answered, "So we really are going to keep him, Jack isn't going to quit his job in the armed forces?"

"He's safer there than he his with an old mercenary."

"Who's Jack?" Michel asked still scratching at the collar

"He was a young lad, that I quite liked and, Jason basically raised."

"I didn't raise him, he was already 9 when I found him. We only had him a small amount of time"

"How old is he now?"

" 22." Wilhelm said Michel looked at Jason and laughed

" Yep, you raised him, 13 years isn't a small amount of time."

"Lets not talk about this now, I'm tired, Michel you'll sleep on the couch, in the morning you can go get yourself a bed, along with a list of supplies that Wilhelm will create tonight." Jason got up and walked over to his bad, layed down and fell into an eventful sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

-3-

"NO!" Jason looked around the Red Rocket to find the source of the shout, only to find he had said it. The old ghoul who had shot his mother, who was, 'Oh Atom…' Jason thought as he looked at the red blood seeping out of his mother.

"What did I say?" The Ghoul said in a rasping voice, that was even harder under the mask, moving his arms outward and cocking his head, the one eye peering at him, "That sure was fun!" The Ghoul holstered his pistol and smiled

"You, you…" young Jason lowered his head, were those tears? 'C'mon, you're not going to get anything done crying, cuss out that bastard, DO SOMETHING!' Jason thought

"Let's get you out of those ropes now don't we." The Ghoul moved around and untied the ropes, young Jason looked at his hands, still crying.

"Now, Kid, stop your crying, this will only make you stronger."

"You, you, MONSTER!" young Jason lept at the Ghoul going for his neck and surprisingly caused the ghoul to fall.

"YOU BASTARD HUMAN!" The Ghoul slapped young Jason off of him and stood up, and pulled out his gun and almost fired but lowered the gun

"My name is Franklin, and you will call me Master Franklin, none of this 'Monster' business, Do I make myself clear?"

Young Jason nodded, but there was still a spark of defiance, Jason could feel it.

'Don't worry kid, we'll get through this.' Jason got one last look at the symbol on Franklin's chest, a broken chain with an eye in between the shattered link.

"Sir!" Wilhelm's voice startled Jason awake, "It's time to wake up, you have a big day ahead of you. You already have a visitor!"

"Really, Who is it?" Jason got up and walked over to where he had left his clothes putting them on he grabbed the 10mm he kept on his end table and holstered it

"The General said he had something vital and that I should wake you at once, the man even woke me up to get you."

"Fine." Jason walked out into the 'visitor's room' a small room at the back of the house that the roof had blown off of during the Great War

"Morning, General," Jason said taking a seat on a wicker chair he and Jack had built.

"Morning, Jason, sorry to wake you, I know what you've been through but, I really need your skills, Colonel Keegan died last night, and frankly, I don't trust any of my current, trained soldiers to fill his position."

"What was his position?" Jason had heard of Colonel Keegan before, but only through drunk soldiers in The Tumbleweed, a bar at the end of New Dallas.

"He was head of the Expeditionary forces and Foreign Relations, and that job is vital, now more than ever, with the Brotherhood, and the NCR starting to show up more and more, rumor has it each one is starting to set up a base, and that may cause an issue for the Confederacy's Independence."

"You, know I don't take permanent jobs."

"I know that that's why this will be temporary, till you can train Jack to take your place."

"Jack!?"  
"Yes, Frankly, I trust him, he's been loyal, even to someone like Williams, which surprises me, especially since how Williams treats him, he'll be transferred to your charge."

"If I take the job." Jason leaned in

General Tulion laughed " You're taking the job, why else would you have asked what Crl. Keegan did? "

"Curiosity, and really, there are several other reasons, but yeah I'll take the job."

"Good, you'll start right now, here." Tulion tossed him a uniform.

"I'm not wearing this." Jason tossed back the uniform "That makes it suggest this is a permanent job."

"You're wearing the uniform, how about, I'll remove the hat, and you can wear that helmet you're so fond of." Tulion tossed back the uniform, keeping that hat this time.

"Fine," Jason said with a glare, he hated uniforms, made him feel like others were depending on him

"Good, your first mission is to find where the Brotherhood of Steel is hiding out, shouldn't be too hard, especially they like wearing power armor so much."

"True, so where do you think I should start?" Jason said getting up and inspecting the uniform, it was simple combat fatigues, with the Confederacy's symbol, Reunion tower with the symbol for radioactive instead of the ball at the top, on the right breast pocket.

"Jack will fill you in on some of the details, he's waiting for you along with a few others, some of them have been under Crl. Keegan's command for awhile so they may be a bit hostile towards you."

"What else is new?" Jason went to put on the uniform, it was a bit snug around the waist but other than that it was fine.

"You look like a natural soldier, much like the young boy I escaped with, I will never forget what we did for each other, I'm just sad that we took different paths."

"You were always looking for a cause to fight for." Jason might not remember the specifics of their relationship but he knew he had gone through some tough shit with his friend.

"You had always seemed to have found your cause, I still don't know what it is, though."

"Well, I guess you'll have to find out before I die"

"Guess I will. Well, report to the outpost a few miles east of here, it's built out of an old high school, you won't be able to miss it, if you need to ask for directions it's called Yellow base, God bless you


End file.
